


If You're Wondering If I Want You To

by teal_always



Category: Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bisexual Anne Shirley, F/M, I am one of those show-only people, Is this a tag yet or can we start one::, Kid Fic, Original Character(s), Original Child Character(s) - Freeform, Single Parents, Uncle Gilbert Blythe, Vignette, anne is bi and has a cool tattoo 2k20, i havent read the books, i know nothing about doctors or 8 year olds, mentions of vague medical procedures and blood, not basing him on canon bc, roy is a foil, sorta - Freeform, this gilbert is totally a weezer dude, uncle gilbert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-03-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:53:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23045842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teal_always/pseuds/teal_always
Summary: Princess Cordelia cordially invites Princess Delphine to join her on the playground to witness Sir Gilbert's courting of Princess Cordelia's mother, Queen Anne.orGilbert Blythe will piss off Anne Shirley-Cuthbert upon meeting her in any and all universes.
Relationships: Diana Barry & Anne Shirley, Gilbert Blythe/Anne Shirley
Comments: 74
Kudos: 332





	If You're Wondering If I Want You To

Gilbert Blythe jogged over to the playground, trying not to trip on the shoelace he knew was unravelling, while glancing at his watch to see how much trouble he was in. He stumbled to a stop at the fence, attempting to appear put-together as he pulled out his ID for the teacher on duty and scanning the wood-chips for a particular shade of purple.

“Thanks,” he mumbled as the teacher granted him access to the playground just as he was met with the face of pure judgment.

“You’re late.”

“Good afternoon to you, too, honeybee,” Gilbert said pointedly before catching his niece as she tossed herself into his arms.

“Uncle Gilbert!” Delphine Lacroix giggled, accepting the loud kiss on her cheek from her uncle before slithering back to the ground. “Daddy said to scold you if you were late. And you’re late! So I scolded!”

“I’m late but not  _ late, _ late,” Gilbert defended, reaching out and gently tugging on one of her two purple-scrunchied hair puffs. “And I’m not allowed to tell you exactly why. But it may or may not have involved your favorite—”

Delphine gasped before looking around and lowering her voice to the unsuccessful whisper of an eight-year-old. “I know Mommy says you’re not suppose-ta tell me the gross stuff so blink once if someone swallowed something dumb or…  _ twice _ if— if someone put something up their nose!”

Gilbert swallowed down a laugh as he conspiratorially leaned in, Delphine mimicking him, before giving her a single exaggerated wink that caused her to break out into peals of laughter. 

As Delphine giggled and grabbed his hand, Gilbert glanced around and saw a pale girl shyly sitting beside Delphine’s bumblebee backpack and what he assumed was her own. 

“Look, I’m not that late if your friend is still here,” Gilbert said as he started over to where his niece’s belongings sat. “Why don’t you introduce me and we’ll wait for her adult to show up.”

“Cordelia’s mommy is a teacher so Coredlia gets to stay late on the playground until her mommy can come over from the middle school,” Delphine authoritatively informed Gilbert as she tugged him over to the bench where her friend sat. “Uncle Gilbert, this is my new best friend! Cordelia, this is my Uncle Gilbert, he’s a doctor and he sees icky stuff all the time! He said that one guy put a—”

“Heyyyy now, let’s not go scaring your friends,” Gilbert said quickly with a nervous chuckle, throwing a glance over at the bored teacher to make sure no one heard their impromptu episode of  _ Untold Stories of the ER _ . “And I’m not quite a doctor yet, but almost.”

Gilbert smiled kindly down at the little girl from his perch on the bench. She just stared at him with her big eyes, not saying a word. She seemed rather meek for having such a strong name but her bright orange hair did rather stand out. 

“We’ll wait with you, Cordelia,” Delphine stated firmly. “He picks me up from school every Friday usually but we just go home or to his apartment to eat delivery so we’re not in too much of a hurry.”

Gilbert chuckled at her wordage, used to hearing her mother stressing the importance of stopping to smell the roses. Not that she was wrong in that, he did seem to meet the best people on the rare occasion that he took that advice.

“Thank you,” came the quiet reply, surprising Gilbert a little. He was used to the shy kids that he dealt with at the hospital and gave her another smile in return. Choosing to let her off the hook in terms of interacting with a stranger, he egged on his talkative niece.

“Well, what homework did Miss Ruby give you for the weekend, Dellie? Anything your old uncle can help with?” Gilbert asked, learning his elbows on his knees and peering into the backpack she opened wide.

“Ooh! You can help us with our science homework! Miss Ruby showed us a skeleton and Allison Y. almost cried but Cordelia and I knew it was just a toy, didn’t we, it’s not, like,  _ real _ ,” Delphine said with a perfected eye-roll that made Gilbert afraid of her upcoming tween years. 

“It’s okay to be scared of things,” Gilbert said diplomatically, glancing at Cordelia in case Delphine was steamrolling over the topic but found the redhead to be nodding firmly.

“Bones,” was all she said, louder than her previous two words, as she pulled a piece of paper from her own backpack, flower themed, and thrust it into his lap.

Gilbert blinked down at the paper in surprise and saw an extremely minimalist skeleton smiling up at him. “Fill in the blanks with the names of bones in the word bank” the homework instructed.

“I miss word banks,” Gilbert mumbled before looking up at his mini audience. “Which ones are the trickiest?”

Cordelia raised an arm high, which made Gilbert think she had a question, but Delphine just sat up beside her, puffs bouncing in time with her nods.

“The arm! Can you show us, Uncle Gilbert, you have to be the bone expert by now! You’ve been in school forever!”

“Feels like it,” Gilbert agreed with a sigh as he sat straighter, taking his role as teacher very seriously. He was a firm champion of his niece’s education, going so far as to creating a joint savings account with his brother to help put enough away for her for college. “Okay, looks like you just need to label the primary ones. Here, let’s do a practical lesson, that always helped me.”

Gilbert handed Cordelia her worksheet before beginning to roll up the left sleeve of his button-up. He looked to his niece and her friend, finding both attentive listeners, and held out his right hand.

“Marker,” he said with faux-seriousness, mimicking the doctor television shows that Delphine liked to sneakily watch from behind the couch. 

Giggling, Delphine reached into her black and yellow backpack and handed him a washable marker in purple, her favorite. Opening it and attaching the cap to the end, he set about drawing on the inside of his arm and including some on his hand, labeling the necessary bones in order to show the girls on a real person instead of a creepy teaching skeleton. He wouldn’t be impressed with himself if he got marker on his white shirt, but it  _ was  _ washable, and he’d done sillier things in honor of one Delphine Lacroix. Just as he finished with the lesson on his arm, and as he began contemplating how dumb it would be to try to draw on his leg to help them with the rest of the worksheet, he heard a throat clear behind him.

He spun around on the bench, exactly like a kid caught drawing on themselves, and found a taller version of his niece’s new best friend. She at least looked mildly amused as she quirked an eyebrow at him but was still a parent to his fun-uncle status that always made him feel like a child himself. Cordelia’s mom had her daughter’s hair, just a touch darker, and a lot more freckles. But, despite her daughter being in the same grade as Delphine, she looked about Gilbert’s age, if not just a few years younger. 

“Mommy, this is Doctor Gilbert, he’s helping us with our bone worksheet,” Cordelia said earnestly, sitting up on her knees and waving around her completed homework assignment. 

“That’s nice of him,” Cordelia’s mom said dryly, still looking at the strange man questioningly. 

Gilbert remembered how adults are supposed to act and stood quickly, handing the marker back to Delphine who turned around to smile at the woman.

“Ah— Gilbert Blythe, nice to meet you,” he said quickly, glad the hand he extended wasn’t the one covered in purple crayola, before quickly adding, “Delphine’s uncle.”

Understanding crossed the redhead’s face as she smiled, losing some of that protective-parent edge. “Anne Shirley-Cuthbert. That’s Anne with an ‘e.’ Nice to meet you, too, Doctor Gilbert,” she teased, “I’m Cordelia’s mom.”

Gilbert smiled as they shook hands, unable to help his eyes roving over her face before hopping to her bright hair. “Almost-Doctor. And I, ah, could tell,” he said with a vague gesture towards his head, feeling a smirk come onto his face as he realized just how attractive his niece’s friend’s mother was. Unable to help himself, his eyes dropped to her left hand. Just as he noted that it was empty, it was quickly stuffed into the pocket of her cardigan. When his eyes shot back up to her face, he found that her smile was gone and her back had gone stiff. 

“Well, I have to go start dinner. Cordelia, thank Doctor Blythe and make sure you haven’t left your sweater,” Anne said briskly, smiling down at Delphine before whisking her daughter away in a flurry of orange hair.

Gilbert stood there for a moment, blinking at the retreating figure marching across the wood-chips and rubber. He closed his mouth when he realized it had fallen open and jerked when he felt a little hand pinch his arm.

“I’m gonna tell Daddy,” Delphine sang, giggling as she packed her bag and thrust it into Gilbert’s arms.

“Tell your daddy what,” Gilbert said incredulously as he slid the child’s backpack over one shoulder, his eyes going between Delphine and the exit through which Anne Shirley-Cuthbert walked, holding her daughter’s hand. 

Instead of answering, Delphine began humming as she slid her hand into Gilbert’s and pulled him towards the used car he’d owned longer than she’d been alive.

* * *

Gilbert never found out exactly what Delphine had told her father, but could take a wild guess based on the amount of times he found Sebastian chuckling to himself whenever Gilbert was around and Delphine’s new friend was mentioned. In choosing to take the high road, thank you very much, Gilbert didn’t engage, but did frequently ask himself what he had done to offend such a beautiful woman within seconds of introducing himself to her. It had to be a gift— or a curse, but one Gilbert wished to rid himself of, and fast.

The next few weeks went about as normal as possible for a medical Resident at a fairly busy hospital. More Objects of Unusual Size were swallowed and Gilbert continued to sneakily share the sillier (but safer) stories with the weird little girl in his life that liked to hear them. He also continued to pick said girl up from school every Friday, sometimes just to go home, other times to swing by her favorite bakery to pick up the krakovski cookies she could never pronounce. No matter what they chose to do after school, Gilbert never got to get a moment alone with Cordelia’s mom. Either he never saw her or, if he did, she pointedly avoided him. It was an art, to be honest. Anne was never rude, especially not in front of Delphine’s teacher or Delphine herself, but Gilbert understood her intentions perfectly. 

And her intentions were _ clearly _ to ruin his life by never speaking to him ever again.

Normally, he would feel a bit juvenile acting like a schoolboy with a crush, but Delphine took it upon herself to tell him everything she knew about her new best friend and her mother. So he learned a thing or two, but also wanted to learn so much more.

It wasn’t until the air turned crisper that he got his chance. And, as fate would have it, he was late this time too.

“You’re late.”

“Yes, you are correct,” Gilbert conceded as he found his niece inside the lobby of her elementary school. She looked far more put together than he did, in his wrinkled scrubs, as she stood there in her favorite flowy dress (perfect for twirling) and a crown (which may or may not now make her burger royalty). He looked to the right and saw another crowned third grader. He bowed low with an arm behind his back. “Your majesties.”

Cordelia giggled as Delphine cracked a smile. The redhead poked his niece with her elbow and showed her how to clumsily curtsey in return.

“As your humble servant,” Gilbert said ceremoniously, getting onto one knee before the girls and not hearing the door open behind him, “I respectfully request you magnanimously grant me your forgiveness and I also ask Princess Dellie to accept my earnest invitation to join me for a sleepover.”

Both girls began to giggle at him before attempting to curtsey low to the ground again. Delphine grabbed Gilbert’s arm as he stood while Cordelia walked behind him.

“Can Cordelia come over for dinner? Please, Uncle Gilbert, please,” Delphine begged, sticking her bottom lip out and blinking really fast in an attempt to bat her eyes like Sebastian taught her.

“We need to stop by the hospital on our way home. But you’d have to ask her mother first,” Gilbert said, lifting his arm high to pull Delphine up a few inches before dropping her back down.

“Mommy, can I, please?!” Cordelia begged, causing Gilbert to spin around, finding Anne standing there having witnessed his whole charade. 

She looked somewhat amused but was also very good at hiding it. Her blue eyes seemed like steel as she looked at him, making him feel more judged than some of his previous professors could have managed. He tried to give her a friendly smile but she tore her gaze from him and looked down at her pleading child.

“He said he had to stop by his work, we wouldn’t—”

“Flu shot!” Gilbert blurted out before snapping his mouth shut as she looked back at him with a confused furrow in her brow. 

“Mommy said I needed one, is that what we’re doing?” Delphine asked, taking Gilbert’s hand and swinging it between them.

“Er, yeah. Yes. You know how adamant your dad is about vaccines,” Gilbert said to Delphine before looking up at Anne and Cordelia. “We’re going to stop by the hospital I work at and get our flu shots. You… could join us?”

Gilbert had spent a lot of time with his nose in his books since he was a teen, and wouldn’t call himself a ladies man by any means, but he didn’t think he had ever sounded as dumb as he just did when kind of asking a woman out to get... mother-daugher/uncle-niece vaccinations?

“We go to a store that gives us gift cards when we get our shots,” Anne said, looking ready to shoot him down in cold blood.

“I don’t have gift cards but I know where the nurses keep their candy,” Gilbert suggested with an attempt at a hopeful grin. He squeezed Delphine’s hand which prompted her to begin begging, which set Cordelia off, and earned his niece an extra trip to her favorite bakery with her loving uncle.

Anne looked from Gilbert to Delphine to Cordelia and sighed loudly. “Okay. Fine. Flu shots. Herd immunity. Fine, let’s do it. I’ll follow you. Don’t run any yellow lights, Doctor Blythe.”

If Gilbert could feel his face, he’d be able to tell that he was beaming at her as he gathered up his respective child and all of her belongings, crown and all, and headed out. He bowed to both little girls as he held the door open for them and included a bow for Anne, who huffed but didn’t go out of her way to slam the door into his head either, so that was a plus.

*

“Princess Delphine, please remind us of the rules of conduct at Uncle Gilby’s place of work,” Gilbert said solemnly, utilizing her childhood name for him as he led them through the staff entrance of the hospital and towards an unused exam room.

“Always use your inside voice,” Delphine whispered loudly, ticking off the rules on her fingers on one hand while the other held onto his. “No running, even if your bouncy ball rolls away. No bouncy balls. Smile at the nurses. Thank them for the candy they give you for smiling at them. Don’t stare at the patients. Don’t ask the patients what they swallowed or put up their nose. Don’t talk to the patients at all. Ask before going to get pudding from the cafeteria. Listen to Uncle Gilbert always.”

“That about sums it up,” Gilbert agreed, looking down in surprise as Coredelia grabbed his free hand.

“Listen to Doctor Gilbert,” Cordelia repeated, summing up the rules succinctly in her quiet voice that seemed to gather confidence the more she got to know him during their brief encounters. 

“Precisely,” Gilbert smiled before leading the girls into a room and instructing them to sit on the exam table, the paper crinkling loudly beneath them. He turned to Anne and tried to express with his smile that he was now in his element and knew what he was doing. For the most part. “You guys can stay in here and I’ll go get the shots. We’ll be out of here in no time.”

Anne simply nodded at him before taking a seat next to the girls on the rolling stool. Gilbert hesitated for a moment but figured he could get this done first before attempting to make a fool of himself again.

Once Anne, Cordelia, and Delphine were vaccinated, and Captain Marvel bandaids and lollipops distributed, Gilbert cleaned up before turning back to the group. The girls had sequestered themselves into the corner, comparing candy flavors and band-aid designs. He felt his temperature rise a fraction as he realized that Anne was right beside him, putting a few of the free pamphlets into her bag.

“Well,” he started, clearing his throat and trying not to draw the girls’ attention. “We uh, I was thinking lasagna for dinner. If you were wondering about… Delphine’s invitation. Which extends to you too, of course.”

Anne froze, her shoulders tightening like they did before. “Thank you for the flu shot, Doctor Blythe, but I assure you, I may be a single mother, but I’m capable of feeding my own child,” she said tersely, keeping her eyes on her bag and also expertly working to not draw anyone under the voting age into the conversation.

Gilbert flinched a little at the tone of her voice before his brow furrowed in confusion. “Uh, well, I may not be as good of a cook as Mary but she’s taught me some things,” he said before thinking harder on the implication of her words. “Wait, I’m sorry, what’s going on here?”

Anne zipped her bag harshly before slinging it over her shoulder and standing up straight to meet his gaze, arms crossed.

“I know what you were looking for, when we first met. All the parents at Cordelia’s school did it,” Anne hissed, keeping her voice firm but low to hide under the girls’ loud giggling. “Yes, I’m young. And yes, I’m not married. That doesn’t mean I’m less… capable or— or reputable than other mothers. I know what all of you think, I heard it plenty as a kid in foster care and I get it all the time now, but that doesn’t mean it’s true. I just hope you don’t teach Dellie this kind of—”

“Hey,” Gilbert snapped, refusing to let her finish that sentence. He shot a glance at the girls and was somewhat amazed at how lost in their own world they were. His jaw clenched as multiple emotions flowed through him. He jerked his head towards the door and stepped outside, just enough so the girls were less likely to hear whatever conversation this was turning into.

Anne reluctantly followed, arms still crossed. She opened her mouth to continue but Gilbert interrupted again.

“I know you don’t know me well, and I hope we can change that someday, but none of what you just said ever crossed my mind,” Gilbert said, frowning and stuffing his hands in his pockets to stop his body language from reading as too defensive. “You obviously haven’t met Dellie’s parents yet because Mary would be the first to dissuade you of any of that… nonsense. She was a single parent too before she met Bash, and she’s the strongest person I know. I’m… sorry that the other parents at their school are jerks. I probably should’ve guessed that by the way they look at me when I pick up Dellie. But none of that b-bull shark is true.”

Gilbert watched as Anne studied him, obviously chewing on the inside of her cheek as she considered his words and honesty. She glanced at the empty hallway around them before visibly forcing her shoulders to un-hunch from around her ears. 

“Bull shark?” she asked, her gaze on her toes as they scuffed at the floor, her arms uncrossing to fidget with the end of her braid that hung over her shoulder. 

Gilbert huffed out a laugh as his hand found its way into his own hair self-consciously. 

“Bash and I have an on-going bet about who can refrain from cursing around Dellie the longest. We started it when she was born,” Gilbert shrugged.

Anne bit her lip failing to hold back a smile, which did funny things to Gilbert’s stomach. He watched her look back into the exam room, where Cordelia and Delphine had found the tongue compressors, before looking back at him.

“So why  _ did _ you look at my ring finger when we first met, then?” she asked accusingly, suddenly frowning hard again.

Gilbert blinked, feeling a bit of whiplash at her mood change.

“Personal reasons,” he blurted before cringing.

“Excuse me?” Anne asked, her hackles raising at his dumb answer.

“Look,” Gilbert sighed, realizing he wouldn’t get anywhere with this woman without being honest, his pride be damned. “A cute girl is a cute girl, mother or not, but uh. I felt it was… pertinent to see if the cute girl was married...”

Gilbert stuffed his hands back into his pockets as he felt his neck heat up rapidly. He glanced away before forcing himself to stand straighter and meet her eye, like Sebastian taught him to when he was asking a girl to prom over ten years ago (and damn his brain for making him feel like an 16-year-old again when face to face with the fiery redhead in front of him).

He watched as she blinked, looking confused before her face began to flush to a shade that almost matched the red scarf sticking out of her coat pocket. 

“Oh,” she said.

Gilbert chuckled as he shrugged self-deprecatingly. 

“I spend a lot of time with books but I’m working on my bedside manner,” he joked. “It’s a work in progress, obviously.”

“Well. You should probably also make sure cute girls are into cute boys,” Anne said, lifting her chin as if to dare him to respond incorrectly.

His eyebrow flew up on its own accord as he read between the lines. The bold lines that she was drawing as a second test for him. One he was determined to pass. He was very good at test-taking at this point in his life, though. 

“And…  _ is _ this cute girl into cute boys?” Gilbert asked carefully, rocking onto his heel a bit as he waited for her answer.

“Sometimes,” Anne said slowly, arching her own eyebrow back at him, somewhat mockingly.

“What about a specific one, at least?” Gilbert hedged, taking a step closer.

“We’ll see. Depends on if you’re better at making lasagna than talking to women,” Anne shot back with a smirk before going back into the room beside them to gather up the children and their hoard of sticks and cotton balls. 

Gilbert felt like his face might crack from the grin he felt growing as he let his eyes follow her around the room. He knew he wasn’t going to hear the end of this from Bash, but he didn’t think he’d mind too much.

* * *

  
  


Gilbert knocked on the apartment door and wondered, for the tenth time in as many minutes, if he should have brought something with him. It felt weird standing at the door empty handed but it also wasn’t 1899 and bringing an offering on the first date would be kind of weird, right? Plus, the only thing he could think of getting was flowers and that was the antithesis of his whole date idea. He tried to calm himself down, since it was too late anyway, as the door swung open.

His worries about not bringing gold, frankincense, or anything else were quickly replaced by new worries. This time of having knocked on the wrong door. If he had somehow gotten the apartment number wrong, or even the wrong building (or zip code!), then he was going to be late. And showing up empty handed was miles better than showing up to your first date with a cute girl (woman) late. He was sure she would be as unimpressed as Dellie but less quick to forgive. 

“May I help you?” the man at the door asked, using his whole body to block the entrance as he looked down at Gilbert, somehow making the few inches he had on the doctor seem like feet.

Gilbert shot a glance at the front door and saw that the number was right but he also rightly identified the door as Anne’s based on the homemade flower wreath that hung beneath the peephole.

“I’m here to pick up Anne,” Gilbert started, trying to refrain from sounding like a kindergartener asking to see if his friend was home and could they  _ please _ come out to play?

“Don’t just stand there, let him in, Roy,” came Anne’s voice from behind the man. ‘Roy’ adopted an even more judgmental look as he purposefully hesitated before doing as he was bid. 

Gilbert refrained from trying to stand straighter to make himself look taller as he was allowed access into the home and found Anne standing in the entrance of what looked to be the living room but might have been a closet based on the number of clothes strewn on the sofa.

“Gilbert,” Anne sighed, ignoring their tall chaperone as she came forward to give him a hug. 

He kept it light, holding himself back from falling deeper into the smell of her lavender shampoo, but was pleased nonetheless. 

“It’s good to see you,” he said truthfully as he pulled back. His eyes fell to the bright pop of color he could see on her upper arm peeking out from the edge of her sleeve. Before he could ask, he heard a few loud thumps from further within the apartment and glanced from the couch closet to this Roy guy standing sentry by the coat rack. “I hope I’m not too early…”

“No, no,” Anne assured with a bright but slightly frantic smile. Her eyes snapped to Roy, narrowing slightly, before she tried to sneakily kick a green dress under the couch. “Our schedule was pushed back a tad and then we decided we needed to wear something different. Because the first five outfits weren’t right. So, our closet blew up.” Anne waved at the disorganization in the next room as if it explained everything about trying to get an 8-year-old out of the house.

“I understand,” Gilbert assured. “There’s no hurry, whatever Cordelia needs—”

“I thought you said this was a first date, Anne? Has Cordelia met him already?” Roy interrupted, turning his frown onto Anne as she crossed her arms across her chest in a defensive move Gilbert recognized.

Gilbert had been trying to just focus on Anne, not wanting to be too nosy or rude, but couldn’t stop himself from turning a raised eyebrow to… whoever this dude was.

Anne appeared to swallow back her first choice of words before taking a deep breath through her nose. She then turned a smile onto Gilbert with a slight flush of either embarrassment or frustration rising onto her cheeks. 

“I’m sorry, Gilbert, this day has been a bit of a mess. This is Roy Gardner, Cordelia’s father. Roy, this is Gilbert Blythe. I had not planned on you or Cordelia being here when he picked me up but the schedule was changed, if you remember,” Anne grit out pointedly to Roy, slightly glaring at him until he reluctantly took Gilbert’s outstretched hand.

“Nice to meet you, Roy,” Gilbert said, trying to be an adult as he shook the hand of his date’s ex. 

“It’s Royal,” he said curtly, releasing Gilbert’s hand quickly before turning back to Anne. He opened his mouth, causing Anne’s back to straighten in preparation, but was interrupted by the entrance of a blur of seafoam green.

Cordelia ran into the room in a long dress, fluffy sweater pulled over the spaghetti straps, with a crown on her head (this one declaring her the princess of the ocean instead of burgers and fries). She deposted her backpack into her father’s hands, who hastily grabbed hold, before noticing that he wasn’t the only man in the room.

“Doctor Gilbert! Is Dellie here?!”

Gilbert laughed as he gave her a bow in greeting. “Alas, Princess Cordelia, I arrived alone. Dellie is out on the town with her family since her big brother is back home. I’ll tell her you said hi, though, if that is any consolation.”

Cordelia studied him carefully before giving him a curtsey in return. “Tell her I’ll call her tomorrow and tell her all about the aquarium Daddy is taking me to,” she said, beaming, before rushing to ask her mother for her help in locating her color-appropriate shoes.

Gilbert smiled as he watched the two redheads leave the room, Anne throwing him an apologetic grimace, before facing Royal and his frown once more.

“I’m Delphine’s uncle. Cordelia is usually there when I pick Dellie up from school sometimes,” Gilbert said, conceding and giving an explanation to the man’s frustrated look. Gilbert’s eyebrow went up again at the look of confusion on his face, though. “Delphine Lacroix? They’ve been declaring themselves best friends for a few months now, I think?”

“Uncle? I thought that friend was...” Roy started gruffly, making a vague gesture towards his face that caused Gilbert’s jaw to clench painfully.

“Not biologically,” Gilbert grit out through clenched teeth before being saved from doing something he’d (possibly) regret as Anne and Cordelia entered the foyer again.

“Alright, that’s enough of all of this,” Anne declared, reaching past Roy to grab her coat and push his own expensive-looking jacket into his arms. “Let’s all start our respective adventures and we can reconvene later today and tell each other all about what we saw and learned! How does that sound?”

“Adventure!” Cordelia cried, somewhat surprising Gilbert with her exuberant at-home personality, and threw her arms up to allow her mother to zip her into her jacket and wrap a scarf around her neck. 

“Have fun, you two,” Anne said, smiling down at her daughter before giving Roy yet another pointed look. “Don’t forget to take pictures for me.”

“Yes, yes,” Roy grumbled, getting another glare in at Gilbert before following his daughter out the front door.

Anne waved at the pair before stepping back inside once they turned the corner of the hallway. She let out a deep sigh as she took a long look at Gilbert standing before her. He didn’t know what she was looking for but allowed some of the tension to bleed from his shoulders as he smiled at her. Awkward beginnings or no, he had been looking forward to today for days and wouldn’t let anything ruin it. Possibly sensing some of this, Anne took a few hesitant steps forward until she was right in front of him.

“Hi,” she said, glancing up at him with a smile, allowing him to get lost in the blue of her eyes.

“Hi,” he returned, unable to help the besotted grin that swept over his face. He leaned his head down and lightly kissed her cheek, smiling as he all but felt it heating up with a blush. “Are you ready to go or have I missed my window of opportunity with that schedule change?”

“No,” Anne laughed, tugging playfully at the lapels of his coat. “This is happening. No turning back now.”

“Never,” Gilbert agreed before reaching towards the door. “After you, Miss Shirley-Cuthbert. The gardens await us.”

*

“I’m sorry about Roy,” Anne said with a grimace as they walked arm and arm down the pathway through the botanical gardens, Gilbert’s brilliant date of choice.

It was a quiet day, just a bit too chilly for the most casual of botanists, but Gilbert guessed correctly that nothing could stop his date from enjoying the call of nature, especially as the leaves began to shift colors.

“I wasn’t expecting him when the door opened, to be honest, but I understand,” Gilbert shrugged. He could tell that he wouldn’t be Royal’s biggest fan, but was, somewhat begrudgingly, glad Cordelia’s father was in her life, even if just to intimidate her mother’s dates.

“He was late picking her up, I really did plan for them to be long gone by the time you arrived,” Anne sighed, taking a large step forward to step on a leaf that promised to be particularly crunchy as they walked beneath the tall trees. “We’ve had a long-standing agreement to not introduce Cordelia to our dates unless we’ve discussed it first. I don’t want people going in and out of her life, especially while she’s so young, and Roy agrees. But I guess you kind of broke the pattern, didn’t you?”

“Oh, that’s me, a regular old breaker of the status quo,” Gilbert grinned roguishly, causing Anne to laugh.

She smiled up at him before releasing his arm to pick up a few choice leaves in just the right shade of red. She tilted her head up, soaking up some of the sunshine before looking back at Gilbert as she began knotting together the leaf stems.

“We’ve both broken the molds in terms of our families of choice, hm?” Anne hummed as she walked beside him, allowing her gait to bump her arm into his just to be close.

“That is true,” Gilbert agreed, allowing his smile to go soft as he thought of the family he had picked up just as he lost the last of what he was born with.

They ambled on in comfortable silence, Anne collecting leaves and joining them together as they enjoyed the bright trees and the selective flowers that braved the changing weather.

“Aren’t those what’s on your tattoo?” Gilbert asked suddenly, pointing to a tall bundle of flowers in the bed beside them. He flushed slightly as she looked at him in surprise. “Ah, well, I just noticed it earlier, before you put your jacket on...”

“Yes,” Anne laughed, using her elbow to knock into his. “Very astute. It’s of a fox and various flowers, including those. It’s my only, if you were wondering, but definitely my favorite. Marilla about had a conniption when she first saw it, though, but I don’t regret it. And she had to get over it quickly to move on to my next escapade, to be frank.”

“What, did you dye your hair next? Get a piercing?” Gilbert laughed, stopping and letting his eyes fall onto her hair and imagining it something other than the bright red that fit her personality so well.

“Stop reading my diary, Gilbert Blythe,” Anne teased, shoving his shoulder as she giggled with him. “I’ll have you know, hair dye was a middle school-Anne mistake, from which she most definitely learned her lesson.”

Anne narrowed her eyes at him as his hand went to his mouth, obviously trying to cover up his mirth. “Laughing at your date is bad manners, I’ve heard it said, Doctor Gilbert,” Anne sniffed hoitilly, trying to stop her own smile from taking over her face. 

“Yes, I’ve heard that one too,” Gilbert grinned, reaching over to touch the braid that hung over her shoulder. “I just can’t imagine you as anything other than a redhead, Carrots.”

Anne’s mouth dropped open in outrage before she spun around and stomped over to the lone bench beside a field of lamb’s ear. “Insulting your date is even worse than laughing at her, Doctor,” Anne chastised, only spinning around and revealing the twinkle in her eye when she felt a hand on her elbow.

“Trust me, it’s not an insult when I say it,” Gilbert said, his voice lowering in response to their close proximity as he smiled down at her. Their eyes remained locked, the garden silent around them save for the rustling of leaves, before the moment was broken when Anne reached up to place a crown of woven leaves onto her head. 

“Well. We’ll see about that,” Anne said, her cheeks flushed as she stepped back to sit at the bench beside them.

Gilbert smiled, unable to stop himself even if he wanted to, and sat next to her. 

“What, no crown for me?” he asked, eyebrow quirked.

For some reason, Anne looked surprised at the question.

“You want one?”

“Of course,” Gilbert said, leaning back into the bench but angled towards her. He smiled at her own crown, colors almost matching her hair perfectly. “I’ve played the part of Prince Gilbert many times and I’ve been told I look quite dashing in a crown.”

Anne’s surprise morphed into a pleased expression as she reached down to pluck a leaf or two off the ground beneath them. “Well. We’ll see about that.”

“We will,” he smirked.

“What about you? Does the esteemed doctor-to-be have any hidden tattoos?” Anne asked, the corner of her mouth twitching as she jokingly looked down his torso and back up.

“Oh no,” Gilbert chuckled ruefully. “Funnily enough, needles are not my best friend. I’ve had to work on that, obviously, but I’ve never felt the desire to tempt fate. Do ask Bash about that when you meet him, though. He’ll be very pleased to share that embarrassing story about me.”

“I’ll make a note of that. Might ask Dellie to ask him to prepare a good list of Gilbert stories,” Anne grinned, causing Gilbert to roll his eyes.

“I’m sure he already has one at the ready,” Gilbert grumbled, leaning back into the bench as he watched Anne weave leaves.

*

“So what other situations did younger-Anne find herself in after learning the perils of hair dye?” Gilbert asked with a smirk as they continued their walk, now leading them towards the butterfly hut, both adorned with expertly made crowns of autumn foliage. 

Anne huffed but hid her amusement poorly as she rolled her eyes up at him. 

“Young Anne got herself into a lot of trouble, usually taking her best friends, Young Diana and Young Cole, with her,” Anne recited, sounding both amused and fond at her younger self. “Middle school-Anne found the hair dye by herself, but naively mistook her mother’s homemade wine for juice with the help of Diana. She also dressed as a boy to try to enter an unnecessarily gendered contest, but my speech on gender equality usually happens on date two or three.”

Having not learned his lesson, Gilbert found himself leaning against the closest tree as he laughed at the images her words conjured up in his mind. He was especially pleased when he saw her giggling with him, knowing she had shared her stories for his benefit. He pushed off the tree and stepped closer to her, feeling his cheeks begin to hurt from smiling.

“I look forward to that speech, but you have to keep telling me about baby-Anne’s escapades,” Gilbert pleaded, slipping his hand into hers and grinning all the more for the squeeze he received back.

Anne looked down at his hand before meeting his eyes briefly, only looking away once he felt the tone of their conversation shift slightly.

“Middle school-Anne grew up into high school-Anne who got kicked off her school newspaper for going rogue. Then college-Anne got a tattoo. Then she was ghosted by the first girl she went out with. Then she rebounded with Royal Gardner. And the only thing that could  _ possibly _ distract my mother from my tattoo was something even more permanent,” Anne said, biting the inside of her cheek as she looked back at Gilbert.

“Ah,” he said, nodding slowly. 

Anne tugged him to the path again and settled them back into their amble through the garden, hand in hand. She remained silent and Gilbert let her lead this part of the conversation. He watched her from the corner of his eye as they entered the part of the area that would only be anything of note in the warmer months. Now, it was empty and a bit sad, but Gilbert could see the potential. Ironically, this is where they came across what seemed to be the only other garden visitors.

Anne brightened as she smiled down at the young child walking past with a teen chaperone of some sort. The child’s coat pockets were stuffed with leaves and her little eyes grew twice the size when she saw Anne and Gilbert walking past with the braided leaves on their heads. Anne reached up to remove hers and hand it to the little girl who looked as if she was being granted the queen’s finest. The teenager thanked them as they scurried on. Anne looked over at Gilbert to say something but stopped at the look on his face.

“You’re good with kids,” he blurted, his gaze heavy as they halted again in the empty walkway, seemingly unable to make it very far on their journey on foot.

“My degree would hope so,” Anne tried to joke, unable to break their locked eyes.

“But you’re great with Cordelia, too. I mean, you seem like a really good mom, Anne. I don’t always see it at work— Anyway, she’s lucky to have you,” Gilbert said honestly, giving her a sheepish smile.

Anne stared at him for a few breathless moments, just long enough for him to worry he misspoke, before using their clasped hands to pull them closer. With her free hand, she reached up, aiding her move by standing on her toes, and pressing her mouth to his, softly.

“Thank you, Gilbert,” she whispered as she pulled back. The twinkle in her eye flickered back to life as she watched him blink rapidly before grinning at her. Anne rolled her eyes without malice and pulled him along towards the end of the tropical section.

“It wasn’t easy,” Anne continued, her unoccupied hand now toying with the end of her braid.

“You don’t have to explain—”

“No, I do. I mean, I’d like to get it all out there, Gilbert. It took me a long time to learn to… truly talk to people, once I had people to talk to. But I know, with this whole situation, with Cordelia and everything else, we don’t have the luxury of… I don’t know, playing games? That’s what people on TV say, right?”

Gilbert huffed out a laugh as he shrugged, tugging her hand up with his to use both arms to complete the gesture dramatically.

“I’ve spent quite a few years with my nose stuffed in a book, Carrots. You lead the way on this and I’ll gladly follow,” he conceded, acknowledging which of the two had more to lose in this scenario. “But I’m definitely not treating this like a game, on my end at least.”

Anne rolled her eyes at the nickname but accepted his deferral. She took a breath and let their hands swing between them as they walked.

“Cordelia was a surprise, if you haven’t guessed. I was in the middle of college and spreading my wings, so to speak. I don’t think about changing any of it because I wouldn’t give up that little girl for all the castles in the world,” Anne said firmly before shrugging a little. “I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it, either. Roy had plenty of opinions on the matter, of course. And so did Marilla. But it was my body and I chose to keep her. I uh, this isn’t the point of this conversation, but I spent a lot of time in foster care before I was adopted. And I was given the opportunity to give a child the life I didn’t have for so long. So I kept her. But I also wasn’t going to give up my own dreams. Not just because I was suddenly a mother. And certainly not for any man.”

“So you didn’t marry Roy,” Gilbert guessed, imagining a slightly younger but no less impassioned Anne Shirley-Cuthbert telling Roy where the door was.

“So I kept going with my degree. And I didn’t marry Roy,” Anne agreed with a nod, wrinkling her nose. “It wasn’t easy. And I don’t know if I could have done it without Matthew and Marilla, of course. And Cordelia’s Aunt Diana is a godsend. And I know I am lucky that Roy stuck around, even when I rejected his proposal. Which did feel silly, to be honest. I never thought anyone would ever propose to me when I was a little girl, but I knew I would regret saying yes. Just as I knew I wouldn’t regret keeping Cordelia.”

Anne looked over at Gilbert to find him smiling down at her.

“What?” she asked, a bit defensively.

“Nothing,” he answered quickly, not even attempting to tame the besotted look on his face. “I just know what kind of strength it takes to know your own mind and not just do what’s expected of you. It isn’t easy, like you said. Nothing worth having is. But doesn’t it just feel effortless when it’s finally there, within your grasp?”

Anne let his words settle over here as they walked. She couldn’t stamp down her own smile and, taking her own advice, just let her feelings seep through her expression wordlessly.

“You know this from experience?” Anne prompted after a moment, looking over at him as a light breeze ruffled some of the loose hairs around her face.

“I know it’s worth it to work to keep people in your life, even if it’s hard. And choosing to not do what’s easy is also difficult,” Gilbert said before hedging his bets and choosing to return Anne’s honesty. “Like... choosing to not marry your highschool sweetheart at 18, perhaps.”

Anne looked surprised for a moment before she raised an eyebrow at her date. “I thought you said you weren’t good at talking to women,” she teased.

“Oh, we didn’t do much talking,” Gilbert chuckled before blood rushed to his face rapidly when Anne’s other eyebrow shot up. “I didn’t mean like that. We just— we weren’t good at having those serious talks, and we were letting ourselves fall into other’s expectations. But we broke up after we sat down and really talked about it and realized we were just doing what was easy.”

“So you chose the even more difficult path of becoming a doctor?” Anne asked after laughing at his embarrassment.

“Hopefully the challenge is worth it once I’ve finished it all. But difficult situations can lead you to difficult paths, but they’re worth it. Like… paths that start when you’re helping a stranger give birth in a barn,” Gilbert added nonchalantly, cutting his eyes over to Anne to see her reaction. And he wasn’t disappointed.

“You’re making that up!” she spluttered as she hit his arm lightly, jaw dropping.

“That may be a second date story. It would fit nicely with your gender equality speech,” Gilbert grinned.

Anne stared up at him before shaking her head, a smile taking over her face. “I’m looking forward to it, then,” she said, moving her hand up to tuck her arm into his.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Gilbert found himself knocking on an unfamiliar door again, but this time he knew for a fact that he was very late and hoped the offerings he did bring were satisfactory. He shuffled a little to keep himself warm (the weatherman said spring was on its way but tell that to the temperature once the sun went down) and tried not to jostle the brown paper bag in his arm.

He stopped moving just as he heard someone come to the door from the inside of the farmhouse but found himself letting out a breath when it was someone he knew on the other side once it opened.

“Sorry I’m late,” Gilbert sighed, stepping forward into the warmth of the house and leaning forward into the warm embrace of his girlfriend.

“It’s alright, we knew it might be tight with you on call,” Anne assured him, her arms going up and around his neck after pushing the door closed behind him. “You haven’t missed anything.”

“Some first impression though,” Gilbert grumbled, gently setting down his bag onto the empty bench beside the door and then letting Anne draw him into a kiss before he could even shed his coat.

“You’re here now and ready to turn on the charm, that’s what matters,” Anne teased as she broke away and pushed his coat off his shoulders to put it beside hers by the door. “What did you bring us?”

“I didn’t know what we were having so I couldn’t ask the guy at the store for the best pairings and you know I know nothing about wine, but you said something about your mom and Cordelia baking so I couldn’t just get a dessert from a bakery instead, so I had to ask Mary and she told me what kind of wine to get that should please everywhere even though I thought it was a risk but, I trust her with my life. So here we are,” Gilbert rambled, reaching down to produce a bottle from the bag at his feet. He also came up with a small round bottle in the shape of an apple. “And I didn’t want Cordelia to feel left out so I got her some apple juice. But I got the good stuff. Because I  _ do _ know my apple juices, apparently.”

Anne laughed, taking the bottles from him and leading him into a large open kitchen that was surprisingly empty.

“That was very thoughtful, she’ll appreciate that,” Anne smiled. “Do you usually go to Mary for such life-altering decisions such as this?”

“You’re laughing at me but I was seriously overthinking it,” Gilbert admitted with a sheepish grin. “And I can usually talk to Bash about anything but only Mary was allowed to know where I was coming tonight.”

Anne leaned against the kitchen island, a frown on her face as she looked over at him. 

“Does… Bash not know about us?” Anne asked, sounding uncertain.

Gilbert stepped around the island and into Anne’s space, taking advantage of the empty kitchen as he took her hands into his.

“I couldn’t risk him showing up unannounced. And I’m only kind of kidding. He’s insufferable about this kind of thing, I’ll endure his teasing later. But trust me, he knows all about you. I can’t shut up about it, I’ve been told, but he’s also known about you since the day we met,” Gilbert admitted lowly, his eyes earnest as he looked down at the woman before him.

“When we met?” Anne asked, her voice quiet to match.

“Dellie has the same Gilbert-radar as her father,” Gilbert huffed as he grinned at her. “He always knows right away when I  _ like like  _ a girl, as Dellie would say.”

Gilbert noticed Anne’s teasing smile was leaning in, and would have met her halfway if he hadn’t heard the throat clear behind him and jumped back, banging his hip into the side of the island.

“You must be Gilbert,” said the stoic woman with a raised eyebrow and well-hidden mirth standing in the kitchen doorway.

“Yes,” Gilbert coughed, standing up straighter and ignoring Anne laughing at him from a few feet away now. “Yes, Gilbert Blythe. Nice to meet you. I’m so sorry I’m late. Babies uh… don’t really care about dinner plans, it seems.”

“I’m sure,” Marilla shaking his hand firmly and giving Anne a sharp look that turned softly amused at her daughter’s laugh. “Let’s go to the sitting room. The roast is almost done and Matthew will be back from blanketing the horses in a moment.”

Gilbert opened his mouth to come up with any number of compliments to bestow upon his girlfriend’s adoptive mother’s home, dinner, or person, but was interrupted by the usual flash of color flying through.

“No running, Cordelia Shirley Cuthbert Gard—! Anne, that girl has too many last names, she’s gone before I can even finish saying them all,” Marilla huffed, throwing her hands up as her granddaughter rounded the corner again and ran up the stairs.

“But it sounds so much more fantastical that way, Marilla! Don’t you think, Gilbert? I thought she could be like royalty,” Anne gushed to Marilla’s fond eyeroll. “Plus, I couldn’t just pick one. Roy insisted on his and my two were simply a must, Marilla. A must!”

“Yes, Royal. I suppose we’re fortunate he let you decide on the rest,” Marilla said, revealing her true feelings behind a facade of stoicicism with the grace of a southern belle. Her eyes met Gilbert’s and he tried to sympathize with a silent expression that said both “I agree, he’s a tool” and “but we can’t say that when the child may hear”. He must have succeeded because he was granted a switch of her lips before said child came back down the stairs.

“Doctor Gilbert!” Cordelia greeted, coming to a stop before him. Despite no outward adornment of royalty, she graced him with a curtsey that he returned with his usual deep bow.

“Princess Cordelia. I am ever so pleased to be welcomed into your Castle of Green Gables,” Gilbert said, smiling down at her as she laughed. “I hope it is acceptable for me to interrupt your family dinner.”

“Grandma Marilla said yes and she makes the rules,” Cordelia said smartly. “Too bad Uncle Jerry and Aunt Diana aren’t here or else you could meet everyone.”

Gilbert looked a bit confused as Anne groaned dramatically, suddenly transporting him back to how high school-Anne may have sounded in this very home.

“You’re lucky Uncle Jerry isn’t here,” Anne mumbled, accepting the dish towel-swat aimed at her by Marilla.

“Who’s Uncle Jerry?” Gilbert asked.

“He lived next door when Mommy was growing up,” Cordelia answered, pointing vaguely to her right which meant somewhere off the farmhouse grounds.

“He’s practically family, Anne,” Marilla chided.

“He teases me like a brother and he wouldn’t leave us alone if he were here,” Anne huffed, causing Gilbert to smile.

“What else are brothers for, eh?”

“So they say,” Marilla said dryly before plucking Cordelia’s abandoned sweater from a chair and handing it to her. “Speaking of, please go fetch Matthew. He’s been hiding with the horses long enough, dinner is almost ready.”

“Oh! Doctor Gilbert, come with me! You can’t meet Uncle Jerry but you can meet my pony. And Grandpa Matthew, but he doesn’t say much. So we can talk to the horses instead,” Cordelia informed him, grabbing his hand and tugging him toward the kitchen door. 

Gilbert raised an eyebrow at Anne but found her willing to feed him to the wolves as she shrugged and waved him off.

He was glad he wore his more sensible boots instead of the loafers he wore to the last hospital banquet as he followed Cordelia through the slushy dregs of leftover snow towards a large barn lit up from the inside. 

He was also glad he had a child buffer for meeting Anne’s father. From what she told him, he was the easier one to please of the two siblings that adopted her into their life, but he knew the quiet ones could be just as intimidating. Plus, he’d never live it down if he got off on the wrong foot with his girlfriend’s dad. He was sure the man didn’t need too many words to tell him he fucked something up and to never darken his doorstep again.

“Grandpa Matthew!” Cordelia called as she pulled Gilbert into the barn.

An older man exiting the tackroom froze, looking caught out as he turned to the two threatening to force him back into the company of humans.

“Grandpa Matthew, this is Doctor Gilbert. Doctor Gilbert, this is Grandpa Matthew, that is Belle, and this is her daughter Butterscotch. She’s mine but you can pet her. She likes apples but I’m not supposed to spoil her,” Cordelia instructed, pulling Gilbert toward a stall with a hand-painted sign that housed the palomino mare.

Gilbert reached out a hand to stroke the muzzle of Cordelia’s horse as he was bid but turned to look at the man that sidled forward once the Cordelia was distracted by her mission to give her horse attention.

“Gilbert Blythe. Sir.” Gilbert reached over Cordelia’s head to shake Matthew’s hand.

“Mm. Yes,” Matthew hummed with a nod, reaching a hand out to Cordelia’s shoulder to keep her from falling back as she climbed up the stall door to get as close to the horse’s ears as she could. “We’ve heard a lot about you. Good of you to come to dinner.”

“Happy to be invited,” Gilbert assured, mimicking the man and shifting his focus to the horse to grant Matthew his obvious wish to not be the center of attention.

“Do you think Dellie would like to meet Butterscotch, Doctor Gilbert?” Cordelia asked, tilting her head back to look at him, her hands still on the patient horse before her.

“I know she’d love to,” Gilbert smiled, reaching down to shift a piece of rogue hair on the top of her head. “I might have to bring her if her mom is busy. Dellie’s daddy is scared of horses. But don’t tell him I told you so.”

Cordelia giggled before hopping down and grabbing both his hand and Matthew’s. “Do Belle and Butterscotch have all their blankets on, Grandpa Matthew?”

“They do,” he answered.

“Their favorite ones? The plaid with the blue?” she asked seriously, her eyes wide.

“Of course,” Matthew said solemnly, a twinkle in his eye not unlike the one Anne often got. 

“Good,” she said decidedly before tugging them both towards the end of the aisle. “Grandma Marilla says dinner is ready and we can’t let it get cold even if we did have to wait for Doctor Gilbert because he was late.”

Gilbert’s mouth dropped open in indignation before catching Matthew looking over at him. “I was— just a little late. But Anne said I didn’t miss anything— and it was for a… perfectly valid reason. I was in the maternity ward tonight,” he defended, trying not to sound like a teen caught coming home after curfew.

“Mhm,” Matthew hummed placatingly, allowing Cordelia to escort him back to the house, seemingly happy to let Gilbert stew on the cold walk up.

*

“This plum pudding is excellent, Ms. Cuthbert,” Gilbert said as they sat around the table, utilizing their second stomachs for the homemade dessert made by grandmother and granddaughter. “You’ve taught Cordelia well. This is the best I’ve ever had.”

“Thank you, Gilbert. It’s an old family recipe and I’m glad I get to pass it down,” Marilla said, smiling over at the youngest member of the family who looked pleased with the praise.

“Weren’t you just telling me about Mary’s proficiency in the kitchen,” Anne teased from beside her daughter as she scooped up the last of her serving of sauce from her bowl. “And saying her cakes were your absolute favorite?”

Gilbert’s eyes narrowed at her as he swallowed the bite he just took, not letting Anne ruin his expert attempt at brown-nosing. “Yes,” he said, enjoying the mirth in her eyes as he lightly kicked her foot beneath the table, “but that was before I had the pleasure of enjoying a dessert graciously baked by Princess Cordelia here.”

Gilbert winked at the little girl as she giggled. He saw Marilla and Matthew exchange a look from their side of the table but refrained from trying to read it for the sake of his short-lived sanity. He did shoot up from his seat once Marilla stood to gather the empty bowls from the table.

“Let me help—”

“No, no. You’re our guest. Sit back down,” Marilla instructed, leaving no room for argument before promptly taking the bowls to the kitchen sink. Returning, she said to Cordelia, “Now, do you have any homework or did you complete it all before Gilbert arrived?”

Cordelia shook her head as she slipped off her seat and ran-skipped to the other room. She came back to her seat with her backpack, unpacking a folder as the adults around her topped off their wine glasses (finishing off Gilbert’s gift, he noted gleefully).

Gilbert smiled in thanks as Marilla handed him back his glass and noticed Anne gesturing towards him in a silent conversation with Cordelia.

The little girl shyly opened her folder and pulled out a packet, glancing at her mom before leaning onto the table towards Gilbert.

“Doctor Gilbert—”

“You can just call me Gilbert, sweetheart. I’m still not technically a doctor yet,” he smiled, resting his arms on the table and leaning in to match her. 

“Okay um. If— Do you have time to help me? With my science homework? Mommy said you’d know the answers,” Cordelia said, her messy mop of orange hair falling into her eyes before she tucked it behind her ears. 

Gilbert was a little surprised and glanced towards Anne but found her starting her own conversation with her parents purposefully. He looked back to Cordelia and then made a show of looking at his watch.

“Well, let’s see. I think I have just enough time to give you all the time you need,” he said, returning her grin. “What’ve we got here?”

He reached for the stapled stack of papers so it was on the table between them. He then felt something touch his arm and looked down to see someone had rolled an orange marker toward him. 

“In case your lecture suddenly becomes a bit more hands-on again,” Anne smirked.

Gilbert huffed, the tips of his ears turning pink, but shrugged off her teasing. “Jokes on you, Carrots, this is my favorite color,” he winked, tucking the marker behind his ear before returning his attention to Cordelia. “Alright, show me what you’ve done so far and we’ll work from there.”

Gilbert attentively listened to Cordelia’s explanation of what her teacher instructed her to do in the packet and set about breaking down the ideas into bite-sized pieces, adding any tips or mnemonics he remembered from college. As he told her to give the answers a try on her own before he checked her work, he heard the rest of the family take their glasses to the kitchen.

“He’s a very nice young man, Anne,” he heard Marilla say, her words accompanied by the sound of someone turning on the sink and moving around plates. It seemed it was now time for his judgment while the trio began doing the dishes in the other room. With Cordelia silently concentrating on her work, he could just make out what they were saying.

“I’m glad you think so,” Anne answered softly.

“And training to become a doctor, that’s no small feat. My mother always wanted me to marry a doctor,” Marilla said, causing Anne to make a noise in indignation.

“No one’s talking about marriage, Marilla,” Anne whispered sharply. Gilbert could vividly imagine her cheeks rising in color as her mother chuckled at her.

“No, but you can’t afford to not think of your future with him, Anne. Not with Cordelia in the picture,” Marilla said wisely, doing something that caused the wine glasses to clink together.

Anne sighed. “I know. I promise I’ve thought about that. I would never bring anyone into her life that wasn’t respectful about her,” she assured. “He was always very kind to her even before we began seeing each other.”

“He does seem to be good with kids,” Matthew interjected, reminding Gilbert that he was also part of this conversation.

“You should see him with Dellie. He’s a very devoted uncle. He’s been very involved in her life, at least that’s what Mary said when I had lunch with her last weekend. She told me all about his living with them until he got placed at a hospital. She was very subtle but thorough about it, actually, so points to her for that,” Anne said with a chuckle.

“Liking children is a definite plus,” Marilla said pointedly.

Anne groaned. “It would never occur to  _ me _ to date someone who abhorred children,” she mumbled lowly. 

“Unlike some people,” Marilla muttered, causing Anne to snort derisively.

“I like to think about Roy’s exes as little as possible, for the sake of my mental health,” Anne said dryly, causing Gilbert to imagine her rolling her eyes this time.

“And being a doctor is a noble profession,” Matthew murmured, focusing the conversation back to the man in question.

“That’s exactly what Diana said,” Anne agreed.

“And when is Diana going to be back? Has she asked about meeting Gilbert?” Marilla asked.

“My dear Diana is returning from abroad just before spring break,” Anne enthused. “So we’ll have plenty of time to catch up before the end of the year pulls me into its depths. And I wouldn’t be surprised if she went straight to his house from the airport. She was very displeased with me for starting to date a man just as she was going overseas.”

“She  _ is _ the deciding vote,” Matthew said with a chuckle, making Gilbert rather nervous all of a sudden.

Before he could hear how true that was, Cordelia tugged on his sleeve and presented him with a mostly finished page.

“I got stuck,” she said simply, pointing and looking up at him expectantly.

“Let’s get you unstuck then,” he said, clearing his throat and focusing on the task at hand. Listening to people talk about him wasn’t at the top of his list of Most Fun Things To Do, but he figured he’d be very aware if he’d been found wanting. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


Stepping out of the hospital into the bright sunshine, Gilbert let out a deep sigh. He pulled on his light jacket over the t-shirt he had changed into and began walking towards his car. His shift had been long but he had the next day off and was planning on using it very wisely (i.e.: sleeping and trying to fit in make-out hours with a certain woman in his life). He was halfway across the staff parking lot when he felt someone sidle up beside him with more purpose than a stranger would.

“Hello, Gilbert Blythe.”

Gilbert jerked to a stop in the middle of the lot and spun around to look at the woman that had just addressed him by name. She was not someone he knew personally, and didn’t look familiar enough to be someone he had maybe helped through the hospital, but she looked very sure of herself and to whom she was speaking. She didn’t look any older than him but her clothes seemed rather expensive from what he could tell, and her dark hair fell around her shoulders in curls that he had heard Anne once complain about (as she had the misfortune of having hair that never held them for long, not like that, apparently). Just as he opened his mouth, she stuck out her hand. 

“Diana Barry, nice to finally meet you,” the woman said with an even smile, pleased with herself for catching him off guard.

Gilbert blinked but shook her hand partly on reflex. “Anne’s Diana?” he asked incredulously, looking to see if Anne or her car was around.

“The very same,” Diana said before gesturing for them to step back onto the sidewalk as a car approached to pass them. 

“Does… Anne know you’re here,” Gilbert asked, hitching his bag higher up his shoulder as he tried to understand what exactly was happening.

“She does not,” Diana admitted but showed no remorse about that fact. “I thought we’d have a little chat, just the two of us. Since I’m back in town for the foreseeable future.”

Gilbert looked at her for a moment before he realized what was going on. The situation made him a bit nervous but he also felt a bit of amusement about it. This whole scene was a tad dramatic and he could see how Anne and Diana had been friends for so long. He figured it wouldn’t hurt to do as she wanted and see what she had to say.

“So I’m being accosted outside work to be given the shovel talk?” Gilbert asked, the corner of his mouth twitching up in time with his eyebrow. “And what if I have someplace I need to be?”

“I took an Uber here and I’m free all evening,” Diana said with a smirk, gesturing towards the cars in the lot. “If you can multitask, we can get this done on the way to wherever you’re going.”

Gilbert chuckled, shaking his head a bit as he began walking again, now leading Diana towards his car. “Alright, then. Do what you need to do,” he acquiesced, going along for the ride both literally and metaphorically. 

“Perfect,” Diana said, slipping into the passenger seat of his car as if she had been invited of his own volition and was perfectly at home in a car that may have cost less than her fancy purse. 

“I always expected this kind of thing from a girl’s father, though,” Gilbert added as he put his bag in the back seat and then got into the driver’s and stuck his keys into the ignition. “But I suppose that’s a little old-fashioned, isn’t it?”

“Very,” Diana said as she buckled her seatbelt and flipped her hair over her shoulder. “No need for gendered stereotypes when vaguely threatening your best friend’s partner.”

“Indeed,” Gilbert said, his eyebrow raised as he looked over at her before beginning his drive off the hospital grounds. 

“Alright. So, firstly, I know that Anne is very capable of defending herself,” Diana began, sitting up and speaking as if she had prepared this on the plane ride home from Europe. “You hurt her, she can deal with it. You hurt Cordelia and she won’t hesitate to kick your ass herself, Blythe. But she also doesn’t  _ have _ to do any of that on her own. She has many, many people who love her and don’t want to see her hurt in any way. So I’m just here, utilizing the element of surprise, yes, to speak to you honestly.”

Gilbert, stopping at a red light, looked over at Diana. He had been amused at the start but knew Diana had her best friend’s best interest at heart, so he thought it best to take this seriously. He simply nodded at her to show he was listening before driving on as the light turned.

Diana nodded decisively back as she continued. “I simply request that you think about what you’re doing. With her. She has such a large heart but has dealt with too many people… taking advantage of that. I know you know how this relationship is different from most, with Cordelia involved. But I just want you to also know that you can have something amazing with Anne. But you need to be sure you’re putting your all into it just like she is.”

She finished her speech with her eyes forward, watching the road. She opened her mouth again but stopped when she saw what parking lot they were now pulling into.

“Are we at Cordelia’s school?” Diana asked, confused.

“You did say you wanted to go where I was going. But you never actually asked where that was,” he said, with an amused quirk of his eyebrow, pulling into a parking spot. “I pick up my niece most Fridays. And today just so happens to be Friday.”

“And your niece is in Cordelia’s class,” Diana remembered. “Very sly, Doctor Blythe.”

“Still not quite a doctor. And maybe a little. But you really didn’t ask and it really is Friday,” he chuckled. He unbuckled his seatbelt but didn’t get out of the car yet. Turning in his seat to look at her face to face, he finally acknowledged her little speech. “While I don’t think it was quite necessary for you to do some kind of stealth attack like we’re some old school rival gang, I do understand and appreciate your… devotion to Anne, as she would say. And I’m not going to try to defend myself or anything. I just want you to know that I heard you and I think we’re on the same page. Both you and me, in regards to your concerns, and Anne and me, in our relationship.”

Diana, having paused in the middle of unbuckling her own seatbelt, let it go to snap back into place. She studied Gilbert’s face for a few silent moments before giving him a nod. 

“Glad we had this talk, Gilbert Blythe,” she said, reaching over to shake his hand again as if completing a transaction. “I’ll just go order another Uber and get out of your hair.”

“Nope,” he said, getting out of the car and watching her do the same. “Don’t think you can just disappear like you were never here. I was going to wait for Anne and see if everyone wanted to go to dinner. Why don’t you join us?”

Diana looked a bit surprised before she laughed, sliding her purse up her arm. “Very sly, indeed,” she said before following him towards the playground.

Once granted access by the teacher watching the gate, they made their way over to the two little girls sitting against the fence.

“Happy Friday, girls,” Gilbert said, approaching his favorite 8-year-olds.

“Uncle Gilbert, we can’t leave yet, we’re not done with our cootie catchers,” Delphine whined, not even deigning to look up at her uncle as she colored in a folded piece of paper beside Cordelia.

“We’re going to wait for Anne first but then I thought we could go to dinner,” Gilbert said, leaning against the fence and reaching down to gently straighten the beads in her hair. “Especially since we have a special guest.”

Both girls finally looked away from their papers at this announcement but only Cordelia jumped up at the sight of Gilbert’s visitor.

“Auntie Diana,” Cordelia cried, hopping over her backpack and giving Diana a hug. “You didn’t tell me you were picking me up when you were over last night!”

“This was an… impromptu visit,” Diana said, hugging her goddaughter and rolling her eyes at Gilbert’s snort of laughter.

“Is that what we’re calling this?” a voice asked from behind them.

Gilbert turned to find Anne had arrived and was looking at their little group with a raised eyebrow and crossed arms.

Cordelia went back to Delphine, cootie catchers obviously her priority (and rightfully so), as Diana stood up straight at the sight of her friend and lifted her chin definitely. “Yes, it is.”

“And we’re not calling it you sneaking around to… interrogate my boyfriend behind my back?” Anne asked, her other eyebrow going up with the first confrontationally.

“It had to be done, Anne,” Diana said firmly, looking entirely unabashed. 

Anne and Diana stared at each other while Gilbert watched from the sidelines, wondering if he should intervene and assure Anne that it had been pretty harmless. Just as he opened his mouth to say something (what, he didn’t know), the two women broke.

“Oh, my dearest Diana,” Anne gushed, throwing her arms around Diana as they both burst into laughter. “We’ve spent entirely too much time together, I’m rubbing off on you!”

“I tried to put some of your flair into my speech but I just couldn’t do it. I think I got my point across but you had such a way with words when you confronted my first boyfriend in middle school!” Diana exclaimed, pulling away from their hug but keeping her arms around Anne.

“I was rather dramatic about it, wasn’t I? All Charlie Sloan did was ask you to the school dance but I made it seem like he had proposed,” Anne said through her laughter. “And my threats didn’t seem to work since he had the audacity to then ask me out in high school and tell me I was _ going to be infertilel _ at the same time.”

Gilbert’s eyebrows went up as he watched the two women before him break down into giggles, not looking too dissimilar from the third-graders ignoring all of this a few feet away. 

“Which obviously wasn’t true,” Diana stage whispered, causing them to lose it again. After a few minutes of this, Diana tried to reign herself in as she wiped the tears from her eyes. “But seriously, Anne. This one hardly made it any fun at all. He didn’t try to get defensive or anything!”

Anne, a wide smile on her face from all the laughter, looked over at Gilbert and her grin only seemed to get bigger. “He listened, though, don’t worry,” she assured Diana, subtly giving him a wink. 

“I was expecting to have to escalate the situation but I’m glad I didn’t have to,” Diana smirked before Cordelia came over to pull Diana over to their improvised craft corner.

Anne took the opportunity to sidle over to Gilbert and slip her hand into his. “I would apologize for my friend but I’d do the same thing for her, so, sorry not sorry,” Anne admitted with a shrug.

“She didn’t say anything that wasn’t true. It was a bit… unconventional, but I’m glad you have a friend to look out for you,” Gilbert said goodnaturedly, smiling as he leaned down to kiss Anne’s cheek. “Now, how about we all get some dinner to celebrate the start of break.”

“Sounds like perfection,” Anne agreed, squeezing his hand as she beamed up at him.

He found himself lost in her smile for a second or two longer than usual but snapped out of his daze when he heard Delphine laugh at whatever life advice Diana received from the cootie catcher.

“Alright, girls, catch those cooties and get your bags, we’re going for pizza,” Gilbert called out, receiving cheers in reply.

* * *

  
  
  


Gilbert mentally congratulated himself as he hopped out of his car on a bright sunny afternoon. He wasn’t on time on this particular Friday, he was actually early. Which was perfect since it was the last day of school before summer break began. He was rewarded for this feat by the sound of more than the two usual children on the playground as a good handful screamed and laughed their way across the jungle gym.

As he made his way over, wondering if Delphine had managed to pull Cordelia into what seemed to be a game of tag, he swore his heart stopped as the normally playful screaming of boisterous children turned into a heart-stopping cry of pain.

The entire playground came to a complete and utter halt. The other children kept their distance as the teacher on duty started to jog over. The teacher didn’t stand a chance, however, as Gilbert saw a burst of orange by the monkey bars and started sprinting around the corner and through the gate, reaching the source of the scream before he knew it.

As Gilbert skidded to a halt on the wood chips, he realized that one of his two worst nightmares was what had occured. He felt his heart fall into his stomach as any number of horrific scenarios cycled through his head in that split second of panic. 

Delphine stood beneath the monkey bars with wide eyes. She looked up at Gilbert before turning back to Cordelia on the ground, hunched over her arm and pale as a sheet. Gilbert shook himself into action and stepped forward just as Cordelia sat up a little, revealing enough of her arm for him to tell what happened.

“Shit.”

Delphine’s head swung to look at him but he ignored her look of shock as he kneeled beside Cordelia, hands hovering over her small form.

“Dellie,” he said firmly, looking at his niece. “What happened?”

Delphine half looked at him but her eyes kept jumping back to the blood on her friend’s arm.

“Delphine,” he snapped.

“She fell,” Delphine gasped, looking both panicked and morbidly fascinated. “Off the bars. Sh-she landed on— and— and I saw a— Like that episode—”

“Okay, okay. Sit down and stay right there, honeybee. Let’s keep Cordelia company while I see what we’ve got here, okay?”

Gilbert then turned away from his niece and looked to the little girl before him, somewhat thankful that he still had his scrubs and badge on so the attending teacher didn’t question him. Once his eyes settled on Cordelia, he met her gaze and saw pain and beginnings of her own panic in the large eyes that looked nothing like her mother’s in color. 

“Hey, sweetheart,” he began, reaching over to sweep some of her hair out of her face. “Don’t move too much, okay?”

Cordelia just stared up at him, the fingers of one hand twitching anxiously while the other lay awkwardly in her lap. One didn’t need to be in their last year of Residency to see what the problem was: bones were not meant to be seen in the light of day like that.

“Delphine,” Gilbert said pointedly, raising an eyebrow at the little girl as she pulled back quickly from where she had been leaning too close towards her friend’s injury. “Is your sweater in your bag? Grab it for me, please.”

Delphine did as she was bid and scurried to pick up the two backpacks leaning against the fence. She came back to Cordelia’s side and handed her uncle the sweater her mom always made her pack.

“Princess Cordelia,” Gilbert said softly, taking the sweater and gently draping it over her broken arm so she would stop looking at the injury. He took a deep breath, trying to go into doctor-mode and not let the face of this scared little girl get to him. He gave a meaningful look to the teacher hovering beside them and nodded as she pulled out her phone. “Stay still, okay? I’m going to ask you a few questions. Can you do that for me?”

“Okay,” Cordelia sniffed, her uninjured hand coming up to clumsily wipe at her eyes. “Where’s my mommy, is she here?”

“Not yet,” Gilbert answered, reaching up to stroke her hair to sooth her and pluck a few wood chips out of the tangles. “We’re calling her now. But I’m staying right here with you, is that okay for now?”

“Mhm,” she whimpered, her little face contorting as a sob built up in her throat.

“But first, let’s see what we’ve got here. Remember when we went over the skeleton diagrams for your science homework? And we went from top to bottom? We have to do that now, okay? Keep still but answer me honestly,” Gilbert instructed. “Alright, sweetheart. Do you know what day it is?

“Friday,” Delphine piped up helpfully from his side. “You pick me up every Friday.”

Gilbert huffed, looking over to Delphine from where he was checking Cordelia’s pupils.

“Thank you, honeybee, but this is Cordelia’s quiz, okay? No outside help for this,” he admonished lightly. “Cordelia, what’s my name?”

“Doctor Gilbert,” she whispered as she began to shiver. 

“Good. What is your teacher’s name?” Gilbert asked, moving his hand to the back side of her hand and feeling for an injury. 

“M-miss Ruby. B-but not after today,” Cordelia stammered.

“You’re right, after today you’ll be in the fourth grade. Now, can you move the fingers on your right hand? And your toes?” he instructed, giving her a nod as she did as he asked. “Perfect. Does anything else hurt besides your arm? Do you have a headache?”

Cordelia shook her head, shivering slightly as she nervously glanced back at her covered arm. 

“She’ll be okay, right, Uncle Gilbert?” Delphine asked, reaching over to take Cordelia’s free hand to comfort her. “People break their arms all the time on TV and no one dies, right?”

Gilbert huffed again, reaching over to lightly tug on one of Delphine’s braids. “No one is dying, I promise. I think Princess Cordelia will be just fine. You’ll be the first to sign her cast, yeah?”

“Yes!” Delphine said, carefully squeezing Cordelia’s hand as she grinned over at her. “Allison F. had a cast once but wouldn’t let anyone write on it which was so dumb. You have to pick a good color for the cast, that’s important.”

With Delphine distracting Cordelia from the painful injury hiding under a stained sweater he would have to replace, Gilbert looked up at the teacher as she walked back over.

“I’m not getting an answer from her mom,” she started.

Gilbert frowned. “Keep trying. And try her dad, he should be in town this week.”

“Is that a Mr. Blythe? No, nevermind, I see a Royal Gardner on the list,” the teacher said distractedly, flipping through a packet of what had to be emergency contacts for the students.

“I’m Blythe,” he said, sitting up straighter and furrowing his brow.

“You’re on her contact list but I see her father listed too. I’ll keep trying them both,” the teacher said, waving at the other teacher on duty to take the other kids inside and out of the way.

“Wait.” Gilbert stood abruptly and pointed at the papers she was holding. “I’m one of her emergency contacts?”

The teacher nodded. “Gilbert Blythe,” she recited. “You can sign out and be called for both Delphine and Cordelia now.”

Surprised, Gilbert simply blinked at the woman for a split second before spinning back around. He looked at Cordelia, still on the ground and cradling her broken arm. He wasn’t this girl’s parent, but he hoped they would agree with the executive decision he was going to make. Gilbert didn’t think forcing Cordelia to wait, anxious and in pain, was the right move. Especially when he was fully capable of helping her and had apparently been granted the responsibility of doing just that.

“Alright, ladies, let’s head to the hospital,” he announced, clapping his hands together decisively. “Delphine, hold my keys and grab your bags. Cordelia, I’m going to pick you up to carry you to my car, is that alright?”

Cordelia bit the inside of her cheek, still shivering slightly from shock. She shifted slightly and whimpered in pain as her injured arm moved accidentally. “What about my mom?” she whispered.

“She’ll meet us there,” Gilbert said, squatting down beside her. “And no one will leave you on your own, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“You’ll stay with me?” Cordelia whispered.

“I won’t go anywhere, I promise.” Gilbert saw that she still looked unsure and held out his hand, pinky out. Her mouth twitched into a smile as she reached up to link her pinky with his before looping her arm around his neck tightly to allow him to gently scoop her up.

“I’d like to see them even try to separate us, princess,” Gilbert said dramatically as he gently stood and led their ragtag group towards his shabby car.

Delphine was obviously happy to help as she unlocked the car at Gilbert’s instruction. She threw their backpacks into the backseat and opened the front passenger door so Gilbert could carefully place Cordelia in the seat. 

“Uncle Gilbert?” Delphine whispered from his elbow as he buckled Cordelia in and got her situated. “I heard a crack when Cordelia fell, was that her arm? I bet it was her arm. On the TV they don’t always show the bone breaking but when you look at the x-ray you can see it’s completely in half and—”

Delphine was interrupted by the half-aborted sound Cordelia made as her wide eyes began welling up again as she stared at her rambling friend.

“Okay, let’s not do any of… that,” Gilbert said quickly, giving Delphine an incredulous look. “Let’s get in the car and talk about something else. Literally  _ anything  _ else.”

“Can we talk about you saying a bad word?” Delphine asked excitedly as she hopped into the seat behind Cordelia.

Gilbert sighed, waving over to the teacher before getting into the driver seat. He pulled out his phone and sent a text to Anne, hoping she would see it amidst all the missed calls. He let her know Cordelia was with him and to call as soon as she could.

“Here,” he said, reaching back to hand Delphine his phone before starting the car after checking that everyone was buckled in safety. “Text your dad, tell him to come pick you up from my hospital. You can tell him he won when he gets there.”

“Can’t I stay with Cordelia?” Delphine whined, leaning forward against her seatbelt as they made their way out of the parking lot, carefully avoiding any potholes.

“Not tonight but I’m sure Cordelia will love some of your mom’s get-well-soon cookies. You can make them and bring them over tomorrow, okay?” Gilbert reasoned.

“I’ll make you a card too, okay, Cordelia?” Delphine whispered, reaching over to pat her friend’s shoulder before looking back down to Gilbert’s phone. “Oh, Miss Anne is calling you, Uncle Gilbert.”

Cordelia perked up, looking back towards Delphine as best she could while keeping her arm in place

Gilbert spared a glance down at the phone Delphine held out above the center console and saw the contact photo that took up the screen. It was a picture of Anne, Cordelia, and Delphine, all sticking their tongues out at whoever had taken the photo (which had been him). Anne looked happy in the picture, which he knew was not going to be the case once the call was answered.

“Put it on speaker, Dellie,” he instructed.

“Miss Anne!” Delphine answered, leaning forward in her seat as far as she could while holding the phone so everyone could be in on the call.

“Delphine! Are you with your uncle? Is Cordelia with you?” Anne cried, sounding just as frantic as Gilbert expected.

“We’re all here,” Gilbert assured quickly, looking over at Cordelia as he pulled up to a red light and seeing new tears well at the sound of her mother’s voice. “We’re on our way to the hospital, can you meet us there?”

“What happened?! Katherine left me ten voicemails but couldn’t tell me anything useful and—”

“I fell on my arm, Mommy,” Cordelia murmured from beside him, sniffling extra hard.

“Oh, sweetheart, I’m so sorry. I’m on my way, okay? I love you so much. Just stay with Gilbert, alright,” Anne said firmly, the sound of someone honking a car horn coming through from her side of the call.

“She won’t leave my sight, Carrots,” Gilbert said, trying to sound reassuring.

“Thank you, Gilbert. I love you.”

Gilbert blinked in shock, glancing down at the phone but saw Anne had already hung up. His attention was brought back to the road once the light he was stopped at turned and he could drive one block closer to the hospital. He looked in his rearview mirror to check the road behind him but also caught the knowing smile on Delphine’s face that made her look just like her father. 

“Why doesn’t someone tell me about today’s class party?” Gilbert asked, utilizing his talkative niece to help distract everyone from both injuries and personal relationship happenings that did not need the involvement of smirking third-almost-fourth graders. 

*

“Marilla, keep an eye on her. I’m just… I’ll get us all some coffee,” Anne hedged before slipping out of the hospital room. 

Gilbert looked over at Marilla from the other side of the hospital bed in which Cordelia lay. The little girl hadn’t broken her arm in the cleanest way but the surgery to set the bone had gone very well and she was currently sleeping. He had no idea what time it was but figured something of substance, sludge coffee or not, was a good idea. He also knew Anne hated coffee, so he followed her out of the room at Marilla’s nod.

Just as he suspected, he found Anne sitting on the floor of the empty hallway, sans caffeinated beverage.

“Anne,” Gilbert whispered, kneeling beside where she sat with her knees up, head down, curled into herself. Her sudden resemblance to her injured and distraught daughter made his stomach clench painfully.

Anne made a distraught noise somewhere between a gasp and a cut-off sob. She shook her head as Gilbert took her hands in his to stop her nails from digging into her palms. When she didn’t react negatively to his touch, he put one arm around her and used his other hand to pull both of hers to his chest.

“Come on, take a breath with me, Carrots. In through your nose. Now out. Just copy me, honey,” he whispered into her hair, trying to help her calm down so she didn’t begin to hyperventilate.

After a moment, when she could finally get air into her lungs, she lifted her face to meet his.

“Gil,” she choked out, tears slipping down her cheeks, the red of her eyes making the blue stand out even more. “My little girl. I checked my phone when class ended and saw all those calls and—and I knew. I  _ knew _ something was wrong. W-what if she had—and I hadn’t—”

“She was never alone, Anne, I promise. She had her best friend right by her side and the teachers and I tried—I did what I could. And Doctor Oak is the best doctor in the city, Cordelia will barely have a scar.” Gilbert stroked his thumb over the back of her hand he still held over his heart, pressing a kiss to her forehead. He held her gaze, watching the tears slip down her cheeks. His other hand moved from her back to cup her cheek.

“You were there for her and I don’t think I can ever explain how relieved I was when I knew she was with you,” Anne whispered, lifting her hand to settle over his hand on her cheek. “I just— my mind went to the absolute worst conclusions and I was so scared. But she was with you and I knew she was safe.”

“I did what I could,” he started but she shook her head.

“You did everything. And how do I repay you? By blurting out that I love you for the first time, on speakerphone, before hanging up on you,” Anne said, sounding slightly hysterical in her mess of emotions.

Feeling his ears heat up, Gilbert shrugged. “That was a bit of a surprise. But one I should’ve seen coming since evidently I’m on Cordelia’s emergency contact list?”

Anne blushed, biting her lip at being caught out. “They asked for any updates and I just thought it may be easier if you were able to pick Cordelia up with Dellie in an emergency,” she said sheepishly. “I was going to mention it but… that emergency happened sooner rather than later. I can take you off—”

“Keep it. It just so happens that I’m in love with you too. So taking that next big step seems logical. And by ‘next big step’ I mean child carpooling,” Gilbert teased lightly, pleased at getting a smile in return.

“Convenient,” she agreed, shifting her legs out of the way so she could lean forward and press her mouth to his.

Gilbert kissed her back but pulled away to rest his forehead against hers, keeping his eyes closed for a moment. He appreciated that Anne seemed to sense that he needed a moment (just a fraction of a second really!) to follow his own advice and take a breath.

He opened his eyes as he felt her hand stroke his hair soothingly, not unlike what he had done for Cordelia on the playground. Meeting eyes, Gilbert let himself try to settle his own emotions and found tears welling to his eyes instead.

“Gil?” Anne whispered, keeping up her calming brush of fingers in his curls.

“Sorry. It kind of hits you, doesn’t it? I—I don’t want to freak you out but,” Gilbert muttered, shaking his head slightly as he sat on the unforgiving floor of a hospital hallway. “Seeing her hurt and—and so scared out there at the school. My training kicked in but at first, like you said I… My mind went to the worst possible scenario just for a second. And that fucking sucked.” He gave her a rueful smile as he rolled his eyes at himself, trying to clear the lump in his throat.

Anne grabbed his hand and pressed it to her mouth, her bright eyes studying his face. She then smiled with a sad tilt of her brow. “That’s parenthood, Blythe,” she said, resting her chin on top of their joined hands. “You have nightmares about them being hurt and when those nightmares come true… It fucking sucks.”

“Then what? What are you supposed to do when they come true?”

“Exactly what you did out there. For Cordelia,” Anne whispered, anticipating and welcoming his response as he used his free hand to cup the back of her head and pull her to him.

“Now,” Gilbert whispered, breaking their kiss once they were both out of breath. “This is not the place for this conversation.” He pressed another kiss to her forehead as she laughed. “If you’re up for it, why don’t you splash some cold water on your face and I’ll meet you back in the room with coffee and tea. I’m sure Marilla will be wondering where we are.”

“You don’t have to stay, Gil,” Anne sighed as she allowed him to help her help, her hands gripping his. “Someone needs to get some rest after today.”

“Alas, that won’t be me. I made a promise to our girl in there and I can’t go break it just because she’s sleeping,” Gilbert stated, pulling Anne into his arms. 

“What promise would that be?” Anne asked into his shoulder, her arms around his waist, her hand having clenched the back of his shirt harder as soon as he used the word ‘our’.

“She asked me not to leave, so I can’t. Won’t,” Gilbert said simply.

“Seems like she and I are on the same page, then.”

“What page would that be?”

“The page in the whole chapter of wanting Gilbert Blythe to never leave us,” Anne whispered, tilting her head back to meet his eye.

“Never ever, my Anne with an ‘e’,” Gilbert agreed, smiling down at his girlfriend, knowing he would promise the world if asked by either redhead. “I may not always show up on time, but I’ll always be there eventually.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> This is the result of me falling down the AnnE rabbit hole post-s3, devouring all the Anne/Gilbert fics I could find, very much missing my favorite trope (single parent/kidfic), and spending my time in traffic daydreaming about what would happen in said AU. And then I realized I had to write it all down. 
> 
> Hopefully nothing is too ooc but it is a modern AU and also kinda from Gilbert's perspective for some reason and vignettes sorta? 
> 
> Also, of course the title is from a song (Gilbert would totally take one for the team and eat Marilla’s meatloaf even if he was a vegetarian) because how else would I title my first fic in 6 years.
> 
> Thank you raebeme for reading and for your professional insight re: horses and broken bones.
> 
> Title from "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To" by Weezer
> 
> PLEASE let me know if there are other single parent/kidfic AUs out there for Anne/Gilbert. I had to be the change I wanted to see in the world but desperately need some company.


End file.
